United States of America: RMNCH SCT - Supply Chain Management Technical Support Officer

Country: United States of America
Closing date: 24 Sep 2014

1.Background:

Millennium Development Goals (MDG) 4 and 5 underscore global commitments to reduce child mortality by two-thirds and maternal mortality by three-quarters between 1990 and 2015. Too often, high-impact interventions and the essential commodities they deliver fail to reach the women and children who need them most. In response to this, and under the UN Secretary-General’s Every Women Every Child movement, the UN Commission on Life Saving Commodities (UNCoLSC) was established in 2012 as a platform to increase availability and access to underutilized, low-cost and high-impact commodities. Scaling up access to these commodities, alongside the interventions and systems for delivering them, are among the areas where rapid progress can avert the greatest number of preventable deaths.

To coordinate the response to the UNCoLSC’s recommendations, an interagency RMNCH Strategy and Coordination Team (SCT) was established, with representation from UNICEF, UNFPA and WHO. A series of Global Technical Reference Teams (TRT) have also been established across a range of thematic areas (including procurement, regulation and supply chain management) to address key bottlenecks and provide technical support to countries. Finally, a modest RMNCH multi-donor trust fund mechanism has been established to provide catalytic resources for country-driven efforts.

Need for supply chain strengthening

One area that has been recognized as a pervasive challenge to improving access to live saving commodities is the issue of procurement and supply chain management. The ability of countries to predict, forecast, and manage essential commodities across all health conditions – HIV, TB, Malaria, RMNCH, immunization, etc. – along their supply chains is critical to the success of saving the lives of the millions of women and children. Additionally, optimizing in-country supply chains to reduce losses related to overstocking, waste, expiration dates, damaged commodities, and inefficiencies can protect program investments and strengthen health systems to better deliver health services. Despite significant investments and efforts over the past decades, many countries face persistent challenges in managing these systems. In many low income settings, national efforts are further compounded by fragmentation resulting from uncoordinated vertical initiatives. Past, current and future investments are at risk if a more coordinated and strategic approach to supply-chain strengthening is not urgently adopted. In recognition of these realities, an Interagency Supply Chain Working Group has recently been re-invigorated by major global actors including the UN system, The World Bank, USAID, the Global Fund, GAVI, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and others.

The RMNCH Steering Committee, under the co-chairs leadership, has flagged this as a major issue in the context of greater harmonization, alignment and convergence of RMNCH efforts and has asked the RMNCH Strategy and Coordination Team to facilitate the development of a joint action plan. Norway has offered to support a consultant or second a position to the SCT to help in this regard.

2.Purpose:

To strengthen its ability to respond to the challenges of supply chain coordination and technical support, the RMNCH SCT is recruiting a Supply Chain Management Technical Support Officer. Reporting to the SCT, the main responsibilities will be as follows:

• To coordinate and contribute to technical discussions, position papers and related documents on supply chain management. This will include a close collaboration with the World Bank, WHO and others on a study on the relative performance of various supply-chain models, their costs and their ability to respond to future demand.
• To assist the SCT in liaising with the Interagency Supply Chain Working Group, including providing follow-up support to the action items stemming from its deliberations. This will include playing a lead role in developing a joint action plan for the inter-agency supply-chain group.
• To coordinate bilateral supply chain discussions between the SCT and either Global and Country-level partners as relevant
• To work with the Local Markets and Supply Chain TRT to ensure optimal communication with the SCT; that its work plan components are well-coordinated with other TRTs, and that requests for additional technical support from countries are met in a timely manner
• Coordination with other TRTs as needed around supply chain issues
• To review country plans and ensure supply chain dimensions are adequately articulated and that relevant technical and financial partners have been engaged
• To liaise with the Monitoring & Evaluation Advisory Group coordinated by the SCT around supply chain related issues, and communicate key findings and outputs to relevant partners and countries. This would include direct communication with country-level partners to ensure a two-way flow of supply chain information, indicators and metrics as relevant.
• Other requests from the SCT as needed

3.Timeframe and Expected Results:

Full-time.

This will be an initial assignment of 3 months on a consultant contract. The SCT, under the guidance of the H4+ and Norway, will review this role in end 2014 to determine whether it should be institutionalized, and if so how.

Proposed Start Date: 1 October 2014 Proposed End Date: 31 December 2014

4.Key competences, technical background, and experience required:

• Masters Degree in Business, Management, Public Health or a related discipline
• Minimum of 2-3 years of work experience. Previous experience with supply chain management or logistics would be an advantage; as would experience in low income settings
• Familiarity with the UN system and the range of global health partnerships would be an asset
• Strong evidence of teamwork and facilitation skills. Experience working with Ministries and RMNCH partner organizations would be an asset
• Management consulting experience, in particular with in non-profit organizations or in development settings, would be a strong asset
• High levels of computer literacy including quantitative/analytical skills and advanced proficiency with MS Excel
• Demonstrated technical writing ability
• Working knowledge of English is required. Proficiency in both English and French preferred.

How to apply:

Qualified candidates are requested to submit a cover letter, CV and P 11 form (which can be downloaded from our website at http://www.unicef.org/about/employ/files/P11.doc) to pdconsultants@unicef.org with subject line “RMNCH SCT - Supply Chain Management Technical Support Officer” by 24^th September, 5:00pm EST.

Please indicate your ability, availability and daily/monthly rate to undertake the terms of reference above. Applications submitted without a daily/monthly rate will not be considered.

PLEASE SEE ATTACHED DOCUMENT FOR DELIVERABLES.